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Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

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Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#71
post #59
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was still reading paper magazine, the first thing I did when I received a new issue of The Economist was to shake it over a garbage bin to remove all the inserts and tear up the card board insert in the middle...

Hahah, I did the same. It was either the Economist or FT that did a cost/benefit analysis of removing those inserts for their already-subscribed customers copies, and found that it would cost more in lost new subscriptions to remove them.

> it would cost more in lost new subscriptions to remove them.

How does that make sense?

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#72
post #38
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

9 out of 10 PC's still run Windows so I guess not.

The PC market is shrinking quickly, so maybe they have.

>The PC market is shrinking quickly

There were 275 million PC units sold in 2015, and approximately the same number is expected for 2016. Sales were growing until 2011, when they peaked at around 360 million units. So certainly sales have shrunk, but I wouldn't describe them as "shrinking quickly", according to forecasts.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paying for the privilege of seeing adverts. So fundamentally MS. I'm so glad Win7 will be supported until 2020.

It's more prevalent than you would expect. People pay for cable and magazines. People even pay to become walking ads when they buy brand name clothing. edit: comma

With magazines, at least those for very specialized audiences, the ads can actually be quite useful. For a general interest magazine, like TIME, or Scientific American, the ads are just filler for me. I'd rather have an ad-free version of the magazine.

But for something like QST (a ham radio magazine) where almost every advertiser is offering something I have an interest in, and where there are no physical stores in my area where I can go to browse the merchandise in person, the ads do a great job of keeping me current on what is available but are easy to ignore when I'm reading an article. I'd be disappointed if QST was ad-free.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#74
post #64
post #44

It's so funny to watch MSFT completely miss the lessons that have turned Google into the World's Most Valuable Advertising Business. HEY YOU GUYS LETS PLASTER ADVERTISING ALL OVER ALL OF THE THINGS! Look at Gmail: http://imgur.com/M8RF1TV Look at Yahoo Mail: http://imgur.com/Cjwxspc Look at AOL Mail: http://imgur.com/ZeaIe1L Which email product do you use? Which would you rather use? The advertising business that is…

This is the exact reason why Google is so valuable- when I use Google, I'm actively searching for something, so I'm happy to see relevant ads in my search results. If I search "bike shop London," I want to find a bike shop in London, so if I see an ad for a bike shop in London, I'm ecstatic, and I'll probably go there. When I go to check my inbox, on the other hand, that's because I want to see what email I've receiv…

I proactively do not click on adwords or suggested links or anything. In fact if I see an ad for bikes shops in London I will scroll down and click on the next link.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#75

I was shocked and very worried when ads for Microsoft Office started popping up in the Action Center (10's centralized notification area) last year. When I wrote about my concerns on a Windows forum, most pf the responses were along the lines of, "why are you complaining, Windows 10 is free." If people no longer feel that they own their operating systems, then there is no check on Microsoft's behavior. Inevitably, ad…

What is the harm done? Of course you don't "own" your operating system. You also paid nothing for it. I also struggle to grasp the double standard of why Google, Facebook, et al are able to endlessly track and personalize ads, but when Microsoft follows a similar model, there is outrage.

I expect to own my operating system in the same way that a tenant owns the interior of building. The landlord cannot walk into the home uninvited. The landlord cannot install cameras or listening devices in the home. As Justice Roberts said in Riley v. California (which also applies to computers, surely), "Modern cell phones are not just another technological convenience. With all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many Americans 'the privacies of life.'"

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#76
post #44

It's so funny to watch MSFT completely miss the lessons that have turned Google into the World's Most Valuable Advertising Business. HEY YOU GUYS LETS PLASTER ADVERTISING ALL OVER ALL OF THE THINGS! Look at Gmail: http://imgur.com/M8RF1TV Look at Yahoo Mail: http://imgur.com/Cjwxspc Look at AOL Mail: http://imgur.com/ZeaIe1L Which email product do you use? Which would you rather use? The advertising business that is…

Eh. I don't use Gmail because their login page is ad-free. I use it because my workflow is better.

I was expecting your screenshot to show the minimized amount of ads within the inbox. But you could argue that Outlook is reasonably minimal, Gmail is only text, and Yahoo/AOL are panelled ads.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#77
post #60
post #44

It's so funny to watch MSFT completely miss the lessons that have turned Google into the World's Most Valuable Advertising Business. HEY YOU GUYS LETS PLASTER ADVERTISING ALL OVER ALL OF THE THINGS! Look at Gmail: http://imgur.com/M8RF1TV Look at Yahoo Mail: http://imgur.com/Cjwxspc Look at AOL Mail: http://imgur.com/ZeaIe1L Which email product do you use? Which would you rather use? The advertising business that is…

Personally I wouldn't be willing to pay for an ad-free version of an OS that you are already paying for.

What? Who paid for Windows 10? I thought Windows 10 is supposed to be free?

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#78
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the exact reason why Google is so valuable- when I use Google, I'm actively searching for something, so I'm happy to see relevant ads in my search results. If I search "bike shop London," I want to find a bike shop in London, so if I see an ad for a bike shop in London, I'm ecstatic, and I'll probably go there. When I go to check my inbox, on the other hand, that's because I want to see what email I've receiv…

I proactively do not click on adwords or suggested links or anything. In fact if I see an ad for bikes shops in London I will scroll down and click on the next link.

Why?

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#79
post #5

I really don't like this direction that MS is heading. I'd rather they charger for Windows 10 and newer and not start bundling software and pushing ads by default. Also, fuck buying games off the Windows store, Steam and any other service that locks you into DRM. My steam client in Linux is hopelessly broken due to updates. Some of my games will still play, but most require the stupid Steam DRM layer. I should have b…

Steam is the best of a bad bunch really - it's not perfect, but it's much fairer than other platforms. There's another article on HTG (linked from this one) that outlines the differences between Steam and Windows Store, and Steam scores quite highly. I was very surprised when some of my older games suddenly popped up as being available on Linux for no extra cost. When the Steam DRM works properly, it's pretty non-inv…

The music and drm war was totally won by Spotify/Etc.

Re: Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads

#80
post #61
post #5

I really don't like this direction that MS is heading. I'd rather they charger for Windows 10 and newer and not start bundling software and pushing ads by default. Also, fuck buying games off the Windows store, Steam and any other service that locks you into DRM. My steam client in Linux is hopelessly broken due to updates. Some of my games will still play, but most require the stupid Steam DRM layer. I should have b…

GoG is pretty great [1]. Their games are DRM-free and their windows client is super clean - I only wish they would hurry up and release for Linux. https://www.gog.com/galaxy

Many of their older games work great under Wine / DOSBox.
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